Editor’s Notes

Greetings Dear Readers,

Welcome to our omnibus August issue with poems by seven contributors. Seven! In these poems we are offered a terminal stillness, the secret to ironing, dead butterflies, rickety motel beds and terrible coffee. We play rock, paper, scissors while contemplating Wittgenstein, and we run out of stea.. Thank you to all the contributors. I hope you enjoy the issue.

I had the pleasure of attending a reading on Zoom yesterday organized by Margo La Pierre, a Bywords.ca selector. It was a delight to see dear friends and hear them read. While we don't know when we are going to be able to assemble together in person for readings, being able to participate in these virtual readings is an opportunity to stay connected and hear some great work. Readers and Bywords.ca contributors, Natalie Hanna, Manahil Bandukwala, Nina Jane Drystek and Frances Boyle read to an audience of at least fifty people and offered editing tips. The event was associated with the Editors Association of Canada Ottawa-Gatineau branch.

The Ottawa International Writers Festival has begun its virtual programming in anticipation of the fall edition of the festival. It has interviews, podcast episodes and live readings, all of which are free with registration.

Capital Pride is celebrating with a virtual festival that includes a children's book reading with Kai Cheng Thom and a panel discussion on reading with Amanda Jette Knox, Gabriella Goliger, Nathan Burgoine, Kagiso Lesego Molope.

Tree Reading Series will have its second annual Pride celebration on August 25, featuring Arielle Twist and Jaye Simpson. Stay tuned for details soon on the calendar. Happy Pride Month!

Bywords.ca contributor Manahil Bandukwala has been holding storytelling events and workshops through the Folklore from Tomorrow series she is running with her sister, Nimra. Check out their site.

Keep watching the calendar for updates on more virtual events. Rumour has it that VERSeFest is going to do something in November. If you have virtual events hosted in Ottawa that you'd like to include in the calendar, please let me know.

Thanks to our selection committee this month:

Jesse Aubin
Wes Babcock
Ellen Chang-Richardson
Robert Martin Evans
Margo Lapierre
Kemisha Newman
Jade Riordan
Helen Robertson
Marjorie Silverman
Carol A. Stephen
JC Sulzenko

If you have questions, comments, suggestions, a bouquet of sunflowers to offer, please e-mail me at amanda@bywords.ca.

Amanda Earl
Managing Editor

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